My struggles with Witch Strandings are not of its simplicity, but that of lack of depth. Witch Strandings is not meant to be Death Stranding, part two. Instead, it's meant to be a simplified and more desolate interpretation of a "strand-type" game. The gameplay loop is so simple, all you need is a mouse; you will be wishing that your keyboard will have a greater purpose. Sure, the characters are well-written (albeit needier than I without my morning coffee), the atmosphere is moody and melancholy, and the core (rather, single) gameplay loop leaves the player to assume that they have only one purpose. However, I feel that Witch Strandings could do with another layer of complexity and depth, be it lore-driven or gameplay-driven, to bolster its attempt at experimenting with an already experimental genre. I do not consider Witch Strandings to be a fun in its current state (nor do I consider Death Stranding to be fun, either). Witch Strandings is an intriguing experiment that underdelivers on complexity but excels in atmospheric emulation and simple gameplay. I cannot help but want more from Witch Strandings, and I hope that Strange Scaffold continues to build on this experiment.
It feels really weird to recognize the existence of a genre that apparently began with Hideo Kojima’s most recent experiment. Whether or not you consider DEATH STRANDING the pinnacle “strand-type” game and a worthwhile experience is a test to what you value from gaming. Should you value making your way through a world of obstacles and connecting folks together, you may appreciate the newest strand-type game to cross my desk: Witch Strandings.
Let’s get this out of the way now: If you’re looking for another cinematic masterpiece of a strand-type game that will allow you to relive meme-able moments on your own personal Princess Beach, Witch Strandings ain’t it. If you’re looking for a wacky strand-type game that allows you to creatively move hundreds of pounds of materials while listening to LOW ROAR, Witch Strandings ain’t it, either. If you’re looking for a strand-type game that incorporates the actions of other players into your own game, Witch Strandings will leave you stranded, too. But, if you’re looking for a puzzling experience involving you going from point A, to point B, to point C, all the while connecting forest animals together through delivering positivity via FedEx (i.e., YOU), keep on reading.
Imagine a game where 95% of the core gameplay loop as a pinprick of light, clicking and dragging your way across a 2D grid through a series of fetching quests that aim to restore tranquility to a forest of woodland creatures whose lives have been upended by a witch. That’s Witch Strandings. Of course, calling gameplay a series of fetching quests would be vastly oversimplifying the gameplay loop of Witch Strandings, but you shouldn’t be expecting this game to offer you a deep experience of connecting NPCs together. Witch Strandings may be a strand-like, but it’s definitely a lighter affair.
Indeed, a strand-type game is one where the player is tasked with carrying items across a gigantic map full of obstacles, reconnecting disparate, disoriented, and disconnected NPCs together. Witch Strandings takes a simpler approach to the strand-genre by requiring the player to mainly use their mouse to explore the world and carry items to the woodland creatures.
The mouse is your primary means of movement and interaction. The majority of your interaction will involve you simply moving your mouse across a screen of tiles. These tiles can be non-lethal, such as brown mud that requires more forceful movement, as well as lethal, such as neon pink hex tiles that can quickly drain your health unless you forcefully move yourself out. I appreciate how the tiles hinder movement differently, as some require more effort to navigate than others. Even more, these hazards encourage a player to move deliberately and meaningfully.
In Witch Strandings, connection is a blessing that opens up the map to make overcoming obstacles a thing of the past, and it exists in two forms. First, you can make your way through hazardous terrain by creating bridges of mushrooms and/or canes that nullify the hazards. Sometimes, these mushrooms can be near the hazards, meaning that you only need to move these mushrooms over one or two cells in order to proceed. Other times, these blessings are several biomes over, requiring you to carry an item with you and slowly make your way through the world and dragging that item to help you cross the terrain. Second, you unlock fast traveling between six structures when you repair them. At first, it seems daunting to try to find the structures, let alone fix them. Once you fix them, though, it becomes easier to move about the world.
Fetch quests are the main name of the game in Witch Strandings. The woodland NPCs have unique personalities and glimpses of stories that open up when you bring them an item that cures their ailment of the day. If you don’t cure their ailment by the end of the day, the ailment changes to something else. This means that if you don’t deliver the item to the NPC in time, you’re SoL. I appreciate the cute backstories of these characters (Moth Man and his groovy music, especially), but I wish that my decision to nurture them had a greater impact on the game. Simply put, saving the animals doesn’t feel as satisfying as receiving likes in Death Stranding.
Like DEATH STRANDING, the early game of Witch Strandings is nothing short of a slog. You’re only able to drag one item with you at any given time with no means of an inventory to carry more. Later in the game, you unlock a satchel that lets you carry one item. That satchel is a happy reprieve, and I was so relieved to unlock it just so I can carry a single item. My only wish is that it could be unlocked just a bit sooner.
Dying in Witch Strandings is similar to the death process of DEATH STRANDING. If you’re consumed by a hazard, you’re teleported to a void and drift toward the light only to respawn at one of the respawn structures. Luckily, only some of the world resets — any bridge you create across hazards will remain, but the items that are scattered throughout the world may respawn/spawn a few cells over.
It would make things a bit easier if Witch Strandings had some sort of in-game map, be it a rudimentary minimap or something tucked away in the pause menu. The lack of a menu puts the onus on the player to remember where everything and everyone are, all at once. Fast traveling gives the player some leeway in skipping past obstacles, but it’s frustrating to see several NPCs with the same ailment (like disturbed; I am disturbed by how many NPCs could have been disturbed all at once) and forgetting where to acquire the item that cures that specific ailment.
Navigating the forest seems simple at first. Like DEATH STRANDING, in which Sam Porter Bridges learns to balance himself carrying cargo over uneven terrain, controlling your pinprick of light is taught to you through a simple tutorial. I appreciated how it showed me right up front about the kinds of hazards I should be expecting, what they look like, and how to move around or through them.
Should you choose to try this game out, I’ll give you a similar warning as I did in my DEATH STRANDING: Director’s Cut review: You need to break yourself of specific gameplay habits that have been beaten into your consciousness by derivative gameplay installments. For the case of Witch Strandings, you need to temper your expectations and patiently navigate the dreary world that Strange Scaffold created.
My struggles with Witch Strandings are not of its simplicity, but that of lack of depth. Witch Strandings is not meant to be Death Stranding, part two. Instead, it’s meant to be a simplified and more desolate interpretation of a “strand-type” game. The gameplay loop is so simple, all you need is a mouse; you will be wishing that your keyboard will have a greater purpose. Sure, the characters are well-written (albeit needier than I without my morning coffee), the atmosphere is moody and melancholy, and the core (rather, single) gameplay loop leaves the player to assume that they have only one purpose. However, I feel that Witch Strandings could do with another layer of complexity and depth, be it lore-driven or gameplay-driven, to bolster its attempt at experimenting with an already experimental genre. I do not consider Witch Strandings to be a fun in its current state (nor do I consider Death Stranding to be fun, either). Witch Strandings is an intriguing experiment that underdelivers on complexity but excels in atmospheric emulation and simple gameplay. I cannot help but want more from Witch Strandings, and I hope that Strange Scaffold continues to build on this experiment.
